InSAR phase unwrapping: a polarimetric approach

This paper addresses a polarimetric approach to improve the interferometric phase estimation based on an extension of the ESPRIT algorithm applied to different kinds of scatterers. The basics of SAR interferometry are presented. The article introduces the ESPRIT algorithm using polarimetric data with a description of the scattering model, the ESPRIT algorithm and the method used to determine the number of contributions. The results obtained using fully polarimetric SAR images of the DLR E-SAR airborne sensor in the L-band repeat-pass mode are discussed.